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Middle Muir wind farm secures support of South Lanarkshire Council

Plans for a South Lanarkshire wind farm have taken a step closer to reality after South Lanarkshire Council voted to “not object” to a recent planning application.

We submitted a planning application to the Scottish Government in November 2011 for 19 turbines at Middle Muir, north of Crawfordjohn.

Following extensive consultation since the submission, and taking account of the views of local people as well as officials, a final design based on 15 turbines was considered by South Lanarkshire Council’s Planning Committee on 9 July.

Colin Anderson, development director at Banks Renewables, said: “We are pleased that South Lanarkshire Council has supported the Middle Muir Wind Farm as we believe this project has the potential to provide a huge boost to the local economy and support the surrounding communities in terms of delivering improved facilities and greater opportunities for the people that live there.

“The design of this project has changed a number of times since the original submission, which we see as a very positive process and a reflection of our commitment to ongoing dialogue and consultation with local people and other consultees even after an application is submitted.”

We hope that the Scottish Government will make a final decision on the Middle Muir application later this year and if approved hope to commence construction in 2015.

We are committed to working with the local communities and businesses to directly deliver long-term benefits for the area.

We recently confirmed a commitment of £637,500 over the first 5 years of the wind farm’s operations, towards a major new jobs and training initiative to be delivered in partnership with South Lanarkshire Council.

Furthermore we have agreed to advance fund the first year’s commitment of £127,500 on issue of an implementable planning permission to allow the jobs initiative to get kick started early, ahead of wind farm construction.

Over its 25 year life Middle Muir Wind Farm will contribute £6.37 Million to the surrounding communities to support a huge range of initiatives and projects (Based on 51MW installed capacity).

Over and above this community funding, we are currently working with local companies and South Lanarkshire Council to maximise the direct economic benefits delivered during the construction of Middle Muir Wind Farm, though contracts with local firms. It is estimated that this will result in an injection of around £10 Million into the local economy